Some Things Don't Matter
by Vampbarbie
Summary: That name is the reason I keep fighting'


A Master - Doctor story (NOT slash) that kind of changes the end of the series somewhat. I just wanted to play with a different side of the Doctor.

The Master gives the Doctor the one thing that will stop him fighting.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing I just play here. The Master's song is 'Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)' by the Beautiful South.

* * *

Some Things Don't Matter

Jack wiggles his fingers to try and make the pins and needles in his hands vanish. He grins widely at the guard who has come to collect him today.

"Morning, you must be…well we've had Curly and Larry, so you must be Mo."

"Shut it freak," the man growls at him sullenly.

"Oh yes sir of course sir." Jack keeps up the stream of annoying patter as he is taken up to the main conference room. The guard pokes him in the back with his gun as he opens the door. Jack steps inside and feels his mouth drop open, his stomach flip flop sickly and his heart sink into his feet. He manages to stutter just one word as he stares into the brown eyes of his friend, his face youthful and unlined again.

"Doctor?"

* * *

1 hour previously 

_The Master comes dancing into the conference room, singing as usual. _

_"__Don't know what I'm doing here  
I'll carry on regardless  
Got enough money for one more beer  
I'll carry on regardless  
Good as gold, but stupid as mud  
He'll carry on regardless  
They'll bleed his heart 'til there's no more blood  
But carry on regardless." _

_He ends with a well-aimed kick at the Doctor sitting in the doorway of his tent. The Doctor flinches and hauls his aged bones to his feet. He shuffles to the wheelchair and sinks into it gratefully. The Master twirls a few dance steps and stops in front of him. He leans into the Doctor's face. _

_"I think I've worked it out Doctor," he says softly staring him in the eye. _

_"Really?" the Doctor's mouth twitches into the ghost of a smirk. "I thought you did that a long time ago." _

_"Oh not this!" he says scornfully taking in the view of the enslaved Earth with a wave of his arm. He pokes the Doctor in the middle of the forehead with his finger. "I mean you." He smiles that wide smile of his. "I can give you everything you ever wanted. You just have to stop fighting me." _

_The Doctor laughs derisively. "You wouldn't do that." _

_The door opens and Lucy Saxon walks in wearing a long black ball gown despite it being only 9:30 in the morning. She trails her hand along the back of one of the chairs in the spaced out way she has assumed lately. The Doctor thinks something is seriously wrong with her, but there is no way he can ever ask her. He tried once, and the Master backhanded him across the face so hard that he thought he had broken teeth. The Master looks up and smiles at his wife._

_"Darling, come here." _

_She glides over serenely. The Master catches her around the waist and kisses her unhurriedly, making the Doctor look away. His insides flip flop in a way that unsettles him and he pushes Her from his mind. The Master turns, his arm still around Lucy's waist. _

_"You want this don't you?" the Master's voice is soft, half insistent. _

_The Doctor keeps his eyes fixed on the floor to the right of the Master's shiny black shoes. _

_"I'll prove to you I'm serious shall I?" _

_The Doctor screams and thrashes as the laser screwdriver is pressed into his temple. The wheelchair falls sideways with a crash as he flails about on the floor. Then it all stops and he can hear nothing but the thudding of his own hearts against his chest. He sits up tentatively and reaches for the wheelchair. Then stares at the backs of his hands. There are no age spots, no wrinkles. He touches his face, his hair, with trembling hands. "What did you do?" _

_"Reversed the aging process obviously Doctor. Are you getting dense in your old age?" The Master laughs and holds out a hand to help him to his feet. _

_The Doctor ignores it and gets up and stares at him, eyes hard. The Master gathers Lucy back into his arm, whispers something in her ear and looks back at the Doctor. Lucy steps towards the Doctor and whispers in his ear. _

_"You want so badly for someone to just…" she pauses and licks her lips, "touch you." She leans in and kisses him sensually. _

_The Doctor shoves her away. "What are you playing at?" he glares at the Master, holding Lucy at arm's length. _

_"That's enough Luce," the Master says to Lucy holding out his hand to her. She takes it and smiles at him brightly. "Us boys need to talk now so shoo." _

_She smiles again and drifts out of the room. _

_"You're sick!" the Doctor spits. "Using her like that…" _

_"She likes it," the Master's tone is simple, direct, a statement of fact. "She loves me." The Master suddenly lunges at him, and grabs him by the back of the hair. The Doctor hisses as the Master yanks his head back and forces him to his knees. The Master leans over him and for one moment the Doctor thinks he is going to kiss him. Then his lips slide past his and on to his ear. The Doctor's eyes go wide as he listens. _

_"You can't! I've already tried!" But he can hear the desperation in his voice. And the Master hears it to. _

_"But I can Doctor. I give you the one thing you want most in this universe and you stop fighting. Let them all go. Your brave little girl Martha wandering the planet for three hundred and fifty two days hunting for a way to kill me. Your handsome Captain Jack in chains. All those people you've never even met. They don't care about you! You can take her and walk away from all of this. Take the TARDIS, I don't need it anymore. Just you and her." _

_The Doctor stares at him with wide tear filled eyes. "I…I can't…" _

_The Master pushes his head down and lets go of his hair. "But you can. Just say the word Doctor. Tell me 'Yes Master' and you can have her." The Master straightens and stares down at the kneeling man at his feet. _

_There is a long pause before the Doctor answers, his voice cracking in his final submission. "Yes Master."_

* * *

"Doctor?" The Doctor is standing beside the Master, his normal self again. "What the hell is going on?"

The Doctor's eyes shift sideways and he refuses to meet Jack's gaze.

The Master smiles. "Handsome Jack. You're going to get to meet an old friend!" He sounds disturbingly gleeful. "And you can stop fighting now. Like the Doctor has."

"What!" Jack stares at the Doctor for a moment, the advances on him. He grabs the Time Lord by the shoulders and shakes him. "Doctor! What the hell is he talking about?"

The Master smirks, as the Doctor looks at Jack with his brown eyes sad. "I just want to be happy Jack. I save these people all the time and what happens to me? I just lose everything Jack. Every time." He glances at the Master. "He can give me what I've dreamed about."

"Is this some weird Stockholm Syndrome thing? Have you fallen in love with your captor?" Jack asks suspiciously. The Master laughs in the background. Jack ignores him. "Doctor please."

The Doctor shakes his head. "No Jack. I'm not fighting anymore."

"What about Martha huh?" Jack glares at him. "She's out there! Alone! And she's doing it for you!"

"I know." The Doctor's voice is infinitely sad. "But she isn't Her is she? I always lose Jack. They always win. I think they're gone and they always come back. They've taken everything from me and I just want to…" He swallows. "I'm going to win for once."

"What?" Jack stares at him as though he has completely lost his marbles.

The Doctor pulls away from Jack, circles the table and puts it between them like a barrier. His fingers start tapping as he speaks. "He can bring her back Jack. I can stop losing." He continues to beat a rhythm on the tabletop.

Jack is staring at the Doctor's hand. "What are you doing?"

The Doctor looks down at his hand for a moment then his eyes flick to the Master.

The Master smiles slowly. "Now do you hear the drums?"

The Doctor's eyes go a little wider as he stares at him. He balls his fist to stop his fingers tapping.

"Doctor!"

His eyes snap back to Jack.

"Please don't do this." Jack's eyes are the saddest the Doctor has ever seen.

The Doctor feels his earlier certainty faltering. "Jack I…"

The Master holds the laser screwdriver up in his hand and the room is filled with a screeching mockery of the sound of the TARDIS's time engine. He smiles broadly at the Doctor. "She's here."

The Doctor's mouth drops for half a second then he sets off at a sprint from the room. Jack advances on the Master. "What did you do?" His voice shakes with anger.

The Master waits until he is practically nose-to-nose with him before he jabs the laser screwdriver underneath Jack's chin. He digs the tip into Jack's jaw painfully. "I turn this on and it would scramble your brains. Not sure what would happen if you came back to life after that." He frowns slightly. "Maybe its worth an experiment."

Jack flinches but the Master does not go through with it. "Who are you bringing here? If it's Martha I swear I'll…"

"Try the ex first Jack."

Jack stares at him then his eyes go to the doorway. "You didn't…you couldn't…you can't!" he finally stutters out.

"But I can Jack. I have the paradox machine and I just did."

Jack's mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water and the Master just smiles.

* * *

She is laying face down on the floor of the cannibalised TARDIS, unconscious. He had expected a trap – for the Toclafane to be waiting – but he saw no one on his mad sprint here. The Doctor drops to his knees beside her and gently pushes her hair from her face, half afraid to touch her at all. He feels tears prickle the backs of his eyes. She is so beautiful. His fingers tremble against her cheekbone. Her skin is washed red by the bloody light in the TARDIS. She is wearing jeans and a baby pink t-shirt, and on her feet are a pair of pink Converse. He grins. "Oh you really are perfect aren't you?" he murmurs.

Her eyes flutter a little, barely open and then close again. The Doctor tenderly slides his arms around her and lifts her from the cold floor onto his knees and cradles her against his body. He can feel her heart beating against him. His own hearts are pounding. He pushes back her hair again and lets his fingers trail down her cheek. The tears run down his cheeks and he makes no move to brush them away. Her eyelids flutter again and open slowly. Her blues eyes stare up at him for a glazed uncomprehending moment, then she focuses.

"Little young for you isn't she?" The Master's voice is all smirk from the doorway where he is leaning. "See you share my passion for blondes."

The Doctor keeps his eyes on hers. Her mouth is open and her eyes wide. One of her hands has lifted and she touches the side of his face hesitantly, like she thinks she is dreaming.

"Hello," he says softly.

"Oh," she gasps and tears spring to her eyes.

"Doctor!" The Master shouts from the doorway.

The Doctor stands awkwardly, lifting her in his arms and carefully setting her on her feet. She sways and he catches her before she falls, holding her against his side. She knots her hands into his coat to keep herself from falling.

He turns to face the doorway. "Thank you Master," his voice cracks.

"Now that wasn't so hard was it?" the Master smiles, walking until he is nose to nose with the Doctor. The Master and the Doctor stare into each other's eyes for a long moment. "Run. Run Doctor. Run away." He lifts the laser screwdriver and aims it at the caging around the time engine without breaking their held gaze. The caging hits the floor with a crash. "Take her and RUN!" He shouts in the Doctor's face.

The Doctor breaks the gaze first, sliding his eye line downwards in a gesture of submission. "Yes Master."

"Good boy," the Master backs away towards the door, revelling in the power he has over the other Time Lord. "You know I love it when you say my name like that." He waves to the Doctor. "I'll be seeing you."

The TARDIS doors shut in his smirking face and with a scream of protest the time engine starts to move. The Doctor stumbles her to the jump seat, sets her in it, and hurriedly reprograms the coordinates. He finds his fingers tapping out that rhythm on the side of the screen. He wills his hand to stop just as she speaks, voice shaking.

"Doctor?"

He turns. "How do you feel? Probably a bit sick. Travelling through the Vortex by surprise will do that to you. It killed Jack. Shook me and Martha up. You never met the stone angels, evil buggers. I'll get you a bucket."

I'll probably need it more than you, he thinks, bile bubbling at the back of his throat.

She blinks at his high speed babbling. "You didn't do this." It isn't a question.

"No."

"Oh." She stares at him. "Who was that man? You called him 'Master'."

"He is." The Doctor's eyes go to the floor.

"What happened to you?" she sounds scared and she is crying again.

The Doctor steps towards her and takes her face between his hands. He puts his lips against hers in a feather-light kiss. When he draws back he is crying too. "I love you."

"I love you too. But Doctor…"

"Some things don't matter." He gives her an odd smile that doesn't wipe the guilt from his eyes. "Rose."

**The End**


End file.
